ChromiumOS for GPD Pocket 1 and 2 R89-13613 Released – Major Update

Attention all ChromiumOS for GPD Pocket Users. There is a new update that is currently rolling out. This update has been in the works for a few months and brings countless new features to GPD Pocket Owners. This new build not only adds several new features but i put a lot of work into ensuring the GPD Pocket 1 features are on par with the GPD Pocket 2. The previous build of ChromiumOS for GPD sadly did not perform the best for GPD Pocket 1 users, my GPD Pocket 1 needed a replacement battery which did not allow me to test. I have been running this build on my personal devices for a few days and am very happy with the stability and performance of this new build.

ChromiumOS Over the air updates will now be done weekly to ensure that the latest features and updates can be delivered in a timely manner.

Note – This build only supports the GPD Pocket 1 and GPD Pocket 2, all other devices are unsupported or untested. I am not supplied with test units from the manufacturer and have to purchase these units out of pocket. If you wish to spare a few bucks to help with the purchase of some of the newer GPD Pocket Devices or to help cover some of the server costs, please feel free to do so via PayPal.

R89-13613 Changes

GPD Pocket 1 and 2

• AUTOMATIC Screen Rotation – No need to rotate your GPD pocket to perform the initial setup. This rotation extends to the TTY Terminals, Boot Screen and Grub Bootloader. Thanks to the hard work from Hans De Goede for his hard work with this.
• Updated Installer to simplify the setup as you no longer need to specify the “dst”
• Added support for chrome://flags to allow advanced users the ability to change features that are normally hidden from the users
• Debian 10 default on Crostini
• GPU Acceleration on Crostini by default
• Crostini disk resizing
• Crostini mic Passthrough
• Crostini USB Device Passthrough
• Crostini backups enabled by default
• Crostini port forwarding
• File and Folder sharing with Crostini is now functional
• Various stability and performance improvements
• Sound, WiFi and Bluetooth all work out of the box on the Pocket 1 and Pocket 2
• Video Out over Type C on the GPD Pocket 2 via a Universal Dock
• Enterprise Enrollment support
• Chromebook Managed Kid support (Parental control)
• Combined the GPD Pocket 1 and Pocket 2 builds to simplify development, distribution and documentation.
• Full desktop mirroring to Chromecasts and Android TVs

Known Issues

There are a few known issues, none of these bugs should stop a user who wants this to be a daily driver

GPD Pocket 1

• Battery will not charge while running ChromiumOS, the power supply will run the device but it will not charge when on. Charging resumes when the GPD Pocket is turned off.
• Screen Brightness controls are not functional
• Settings > About ChromiumOS > Additional details will cause the GPD Pocket to restart the ChromiumOS UI  (Crash)
• The “Connected Devices” option shows in the settings application, this is disabled as it is exclusive to ChromeOS
• The “Google Assistant” option shows in the settings application, this is disabled as it is exclusive to ChromeOS

GPD Pocket 2

• Battery indicator will not report the GPD Pocket 2 is charging with the charging icon, the Pocket 2 does charge when connected to a power supply
• Screen Brightness controls are not functional when the hot keys are used, on-screen brightness controls work properly
• Volume controls are not functional, on-screen volume controls work properly
• Settings > About ChromiumOS > Additional details will cause the GPD Pocket to restart the ChromiumOS UI  (Crash)
• The “Connected Devices” option shows in the settings application, this is disabled as it is exclusive to ChromeOS
• The “Google Assistant” option shows in the settings application, this is disabled as it is exclusive to ChromeOS

 

Update Instructions

If you are running a previous build of ChromiumOS for the GPD Pocket, you can upgrade to this build by performing the following

• Backup your Device !!! – This upgrade should be safe to do but please backup your device just in case
• Open a Crosh Shell by pressing “Alt + Ctrl + T”
• Type “shell” followed by enter
• Enter the following

update_engine_client --omaha_url=http://ota.cros.studio:8555/update/ --update

Once the update is complete, you will need to reboot your device.

If you wish to perform a clean install, you can do this by downloading the installation image below

Image Download

You can download the installation image from the ChromiumOS for GPD Pocket Product Page. The product page includes all of the steps to build and install the ChromiumOS for GPD Pocket

Source Code

The source code for the board overlay can be found on my GitHub page, if you wish to build this from source, you will need to follow my instructions to build ChromiumOS from Source.

Shout Out

I just wanted to give a Shout Out to Tony @ ArnoldTheBat for providing some insight in working around a problem caused by upstream changes in the OTA system.